Chris Patten has confirmed he is to stand down after
just one term as a European Commissioner, following reports that he is counting the hours until
the end of his "boring" Brussels job.

According to the Daily Telegraph newspaper Mr Patten, the European Commissioner for External
Affairs, found one commission meeting so dull that he stopped listening and
worked out how many hours he had left to live if he were to die at 75.

But the former Hong Kong governor dismissed the report, saying the remarks were taken out of
context and demonstrated the "perils of having a sense of humour" in public
life.

He insisted his job was actually one of the most "interesting" he could do, but said
he would only serve one term in office.

"I am 56 now, I will be over 60 when this job is over and there will probably
only be one British commissioner after the IGC [inter-governmental conference]
this year.

"It seems to me perfectly sensible to decide when you are over 60 there are
other things to do in life," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Mr Patten is reported to have been engaged in a drawn out battle while in Brussels with former
Nato Secretary General Javier Solana, who is in charge of Europe's common
foreign and security policy.

According to the Telegraph, Mr Patten started working out how many hours
he had left to live if he made it to 75 during Wednesday's meeting with the
commission. The answer was 175,200.